May-December romance gives me the heebie jeebies under any circumstance, but it was worse here. Geer, nearing 50, plays an aging and yet ageless lothario who newest target is an extremely young Ryder. He's got the same smugness and bravado we've come to know and be nauseated by in films 20 or more years old. His charm here does little to calm our fears that he'll damage yet another innocent soul to satisfy immediate needs.
It's not to happen this time. She's different. She's hip and wise and extra sincere. There's also love involved, but we don't buy it for a minute because there's no chemistry between the characters. They have little if anything in common. Love seems suddenly to appear, without build-up or explanation. When his character is miraculously changed because of it, it seems arbitrary.
There is also a disturbing hint of a father-daughter kind of love between them - the script suggests that Geer was romantically involved with her mother - and that adds to the overall uneasiness we feel witnessing this distasteful affair.
It's not to happen this time. She's different. She's hip and wise and extra sincere. There's also love involved, but we don't buy it for a minute because there's no chemistry between the characters. They have little if anything in common. Love seems suddenly to appear, without build-up or explanation. When his character is miraculously changed because of it, it seems arbitrary.
There is also a disturbing hint of a father-daughter kind of love between them - the script suggests that Geer was romantically involved with her mother - and that adds to the overall uneasiness we feel witnessing this distasteful affair.